Oct 20, 2018

Hold on to your hype it is time for the latest episode of Not Enough Resources! We have a lot of cool things in the work, so keep an eye on Rogues Portal and follow us on Twitter @NERPodcast! As always send us your comments and suggestions! You can subscribe to Not Enough Resources on iTunes or Google Play.

Now Playing -
Dylan and Ryan have both dived into the world of the Nintendo Switch. Dylan goes hands on with Super Mario Party and Doom, while Ryan explores Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker and Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle.News -
Over the past week Rockstar has come under fire for a quote about 100 hour work weeks to get Red Dead Redemption 2 out the door. Obviously, they didn't read the room. What are fair labor practices for a creative field? How should developers be protected? Are gamers too demanding when it comes to AAA Titles? Are cost of games too low to support this kind of development cycle? We muse over a lot of questions.Competitive Corner -
Dylan is super hype about the League of Legends Worlds tournament, and after some stunning defeats at the group stages, will this finally be the year a foreign team brings it home? Ryan gushes about the Overwatch League Season 2 changes, from roster shake ups to overall league structure changes.

Oct 15, 2018

Daredevil has always been the lynch-pin of Netflix side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Following the mixed bag of Season 2 and the ho-hum executed Defenders mini-series, all of the other series have found their strides, even if Iron Fist has been put out to pasture. Thankfully, Daredevil Season 3 returns to the high concept storytelling and clear vision form the get-go that made Season 1 great.

That doesn't mean that everything starts out great for Matt Murdock. At the end of the Defenders, Matt had a building dropped on him and ended up alive in his old Catholic Church, being brought to by his priest and Sister Maggie, played by Joanne Whalley.

The first episode does take a little while to find it's footing. Some odd audio choices were probably made to help illustrate Matt's growth back to his full form. This all comes to head in an amazing, straight out-of-the-comics, boxing sequence. Once Murdock falls back into step and reveals to his friends he is not dead, in his trademark selfish Matt Murdock way, of course, there are bigger problems threatening Hell's Kitchen, mainly the return of the Kingpin. After negotiating his way out of prison and into a penthouse suite under the guise of house arrest, Kingpins reign of terror continues.

It is amazing how much the quality of the show leaps forward as soon as D'Onofrio is on screen. Not saying that all of the other actors in the show are bad actors, none of them are. Yet every scene with D'Onofrio is electrifying, and he elevates everyone's work to a higher level. He commands every scene he is in. It really drives home what was missing in Season 2: A compelling villain. The Punisher stuff was interesting. The Elektra stuff was fun, but both of those storylines came through half-baked. In Season 3 though, everything is meticulously calculated and shown with purpose, giving the show a sense of anticipation I haven't felt in a long while.

All of this is amped up to eleven with the introduction of Wilson Bethel as Bullseye. While some versions of the character come off as incredibly goofy, this version comes off as menacing and threatening to everyone he is around. Bethel nails the waywardness of the character who needs a little bit of direction. Once he plays into Kingpin's hands, everything really starts to coalesce into a great arc for a great season. Every time Bullseye and Daredevil face off it feels absolutely brutal and earned, instead of just a weird boss battle style fight some of the other Netflix MCU shows have fallen into.

There should also be a conversation about something Daredevil has become known for: The long take action sequence. Following the brutal and well executed single shot hallway fight from Season 1, Season 2 attempted to do another one through a building while Matt Murdock couldn't use one of his hands. It was the truest definition of a sophomore effort. It felt rushed, the impact was muddled, and it felt more like an obligation from the production team instead of an artistic choice made by the directors. The long take action sequence in Season 3 has none of these shortcomings.

The sequence starts with Matt Murdock on the back foot and continues to escalate in unpredictable ways, even stopping midway through all of the action for a negotiation. It is truly magical to see something like this so well thought out and executed in such an awesome way. You can see all of the pre-production work that went into this one sequence, and it pays off incredibly. Everyone who touched it should be incredibly proud of their work.

Watch it. Binge it. Daredevil Season 3 is a great return to form and brings Matt Murdock back to greatness. There are no ninja's and nonsensical plots, only super compelling and edge of your seat TV. Every actor in the show is putting out their best work. You can't help but watch just one more episode, even though it is way too late at night. It is Netflix in it's purest of form.

Oct 12, 2018

Star Wars Resistance is Disney's second foray into Star Wars Television, following the widely successful (and amazing) Star Wars Rebels. Rebels felt like a sibling to the original Star Wars TV series, Clone Wars. Resistance feels more like a cousin ready to be welcomed into the family.

Star Wars Resistance opens up right away by establishing a firm spot in the Star Wars timeline. The series takes place in the lead up to Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens. The First Order is poised to attack the New Republic any minute now. To help establish an early warning system of sorts, Poe Dameron, voiced by Oscar Issac himself, places a spy on the far off racing platform the Colossus, deep in wild space.

Following a pretty standard pilot episode, which builds on the lore around Colossus, Poe departs, and the focus is fully shifted onto the lead character of the series, Kazuda Xiono, or Kaz. Kaz is a little green when it comes to the spy stuff. He is eager to prove himself to Poe and his new mentor on the Colossus, Jarek Yeager. His mission is simple. Find anyone loyal to the First Order on the Colossus and try to figure out anything about the First Order. Kaz really wants to impress Poe and Yeager, so much so that he starts to neglect his responsibilities that he is given as part of his cover: A mechanic for the Fireball crew.

This is where the first huge disconnect comes from. All of the previous trailers and media seem to focus on Kaz and the other racers aboard the Colossus. The reality is, after three episodes, only one of the other racer characters mentioned in any pre-release marketing has shown up. Instead of a mix of Top Gun and Speed Racer the initial trailers showed, we are given a pretty basic stock story about responsibility and what happens when others depend on you. Good messages, which are well executed, but something that kids TV has been churning out constantly since the 80's.

That said, I was constantly telling myself that in the beginning of Rebels I really didn't care for Ezra either. Only for him to become one of my favorite characters midway through the second season. Hopefully, Resistance will continue that trend and allow the characters to grow into fully fledged and developed characters Star Wars fans can love and care about.

One of the biggest divides from Star Wars fans as a whole though is the animation style. Rebels and Clone Wars have a very distinct and slightly exaggerated proportion thing going on for their style. Resistance leans into a full cel-shaded wonder. The show looks gorgeous in motion. It allows the characters to be more animated compared to the rigid, almost lifelike qualities of Rebels.

Random Musings:

Poe claims BB-8 is his droid. However, he loves leaving that little guy with random people.

Gwendolyn Christie is set to reprise her role as Captain Phasma, but that episode hasn't aired yet.

The designs of the ships are so cool. It will be great to add them to a toy or LEGO collection at a later date.

The Verdict:

Watch it! While the demographic skews a little younger compared to Clone Wars and Rebels, Resistance is still a fun little show. It is quite refreshing to see a Star Wars show without the overarching mystical tales of fate and prophecy of the Jedi that complicates matters and directing the plot. Kaz is not a child of destiny, just an average galactic citizen looking to keep tabs on a growing tyrannical force. I just hope the First Order shows up sooner rather than later so the overall story can start to take place.

Star Wars Resistance airs on Disney and Disney XD on Sunday nights. The first three episodes are available on the Disney XD app an Hulu now.